


Thick Grove of Trees and Underbrush

by Niokuma



Series: Hauntober [10]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Hauntober, forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niokuma/pseuds/Niokuma
Summary: Rio kinda gets lost and bumps into Nioku.
Series: Hauntober [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948978





	Thick Grove of Trees and Underbrush

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T for Traumatic Events  
> Original Work for Hauntober Prompt =Forest=  
> Characters: Rio, Robert, Nioku

=Forest=

“Do you know where she’d put your book,” Rio asked, drawing Robert’s gaze from the sky. He looked at Rio and nodded.

“The dead tree,” he stated. “By the pond.”

“Can you take me there,” Rio asked and Robert nodded. He started walking around the house but stopped at the edge of a thick grove of trees and underbrush. Rio tried to bring him closer but Robert refused to budge.

“I can’t,” he whimpered out. “I’m scared.”

“I’ll go on my own,” Rio said, crouching down. He looked Robert in the raccoon-skull eyes and smiled. “I won’t make you do something you don’t want to do. Just, stay safe, alright?” Robert nodded.

“Thank you,” Robert said and Rio smiled. “It’s in a straight line. If you don’t see it, then you turned someplace.”

Rio gave Robert a gentle hug before standing and ventured into the thick grove of trees and underbrush. The image of the white tree in the black abyss deep in his mind.

\---

“What he failed to mention is how far away it is,” Rio huffed out after what felt like forever. “Where is this tree?” He looked around and then up at the night sky, the silver specks and the reflected sunlight off the last quarter moon barely lit the forest. “Why is it so far away?”

Clouds rolled over the moon, hiding what little light Rio had, shrouding him in darkness.

\---

Rio couldn’t tell how far he’d walked or how much time had passed, only that he really wished he had brought a thicker coat. The cold wind blew through his thin sweater, feeling like needles striking him all over.

When he had almost lost all hope finding the leafless weeping willow, it finally came into view as the clouds parted just enough to let the reflected sunlight off the last quarter moon shone directly onto the tree making it look like it was glowing.

Rio walked over to the tree and looked up at the naked branches. “That book is supposed to be around here someplace.” He placed his hands on the trunk of the tree and moved his hands along it as he sidestepped around the tree. Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying attention to the root structure of the tree and tripped, falling into a pond on the other side of the tree.

After the initial shock of falling into the cold water, Rio swam to the shore and climbed out of the water, pulling the elastic hair-tie from his hair and started wringing his hair out. “Damn, it’ll take forever for my hair to dry out.” He paused and looked into the water. “I’m already cold and wet.” He dove right back into the water and slowly fumbled around in the dark, surfacing only to take a breath.

Finally, after several breaths, he found a metal box. He pulled it out of the water and brought it to the shore where he busted it open and there was Robert’s book. Rio heaved a sigh of relief and dried his hair out the best he could before looking around, realizing he was lost.

Rio stood and looked around as the clouds concealed the moon, plunging him into darkness.

Rio was alone in the dark. Again. But this time, he knew where he was. He was in the middle of a thick grove of trees and underbrush after dark. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to calm his nerves.

“What were those tips Doctor Maurice gave me,” Rio muttered crouching low, clutching the book. _Inhale for five, hold for seven, exhale for nine? Or was it six, seven, and eight?_

Rio closed his eyes, plunging himself further into darkness and started to inhale. _One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six._ He stopped and held his breath. _Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen._ Rio then proceeded to exhale. _Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one._ He felt a little better, more in control.

While still crouching, he touched the ground gently, trying to figure out where he had walked from earlier. While moving, he saw a light in the distance and stood quickly.

“Too fast,” he groaned out, feeling dizzy. He shook his head a little and then started running towards the light, stumbling over the occasional root or rock. He soon found himself standing in the middle of the road.

“Rio?”

He looked at who spoke to him. “Nioku!”

“What are you doing here,” Nioku asked. His hands were shoved in the pocket of his sweater. “Shouldn’t you be practicing with your rapier?”

“I’m busy trying to help a couple of undead to pass on,” Rio said.

“That’s what was in the house,” he asked and Rio nodded. “Do you, do you need help?”

“You don’t need to help if you don’t need to,” Rio answered.

Nioku stared down at the sidewalk in deep contemplation.

Rio looked around, both waiting for Nioku’s answer and to figure out where he was standing in relation to the house he left Robert at.

“What street are we on?”

“What?” Nioku looked up at Rio.

“I need to know what street we’re on,” Rio answered. “Where are we?”

“Bismuth Road,” Nioku answered, brow furrowed. “That house you and Tiok went into is back on Obsidian Lane.”

“Thanks.”

Nioku pointed into the thick grove of trees and underbrush that Rio had left. “It’s faster if we go that way.” He pulled out his phone and turned the flashlight app on before leading the way.

“How do you know the surrounding groves so well,” Rio asked, brow furrowed.

“There’s nothing else to do around here,” Nioku answered, watching his feet. “Since then, I’ve had nothing to do except dwell and remember and get over...whatever it was I had with Luna.”

“Have you?”

Nioku stopped and shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve known her since we were four. She was my only friend outside the family. We were childhood friends and then she tried to kill me. Then, I, I-” Nioku crouched down and clutched himself. He started sobbing and Rio crouched down next to him.

“We were all there, it was self-defense,” Rio said, hugging Nioku. “She was blabbering on about how killing you would please whatever creepy god her family worshiped. It wasn’t your fault she was raised wrong. It’s not your fault she attacked you, it was her parents’ fault, her clan’s fault. You may have been defending yourself, but it’s not your fault she ended up trying to kill you.”

“Do you even know how many times she tried to kill me,” Nioku asked, clutching onto Rio.

“She tried more than once,” Rio asked, eyes wide.

“At least fifteen times,” he cried out. “She tried to kill me more times than years I’ve been alive!”

“And you still loved her,” Rio asked and Nioku nodded.

“At the time, I thought it was because of mental illness, not some crazy religious thing,” he stated. “If she hadn’t been raised like that, she wouldn’t have tried to kill me.”

Rio pulled away from Nioku and wiped his face with his sleeve. “You look disgusting,” Rio stated. “You really need to talk to someone about this, and I mean a professional. Have you told your therapist about this?” Nioku shook his head and Rio sighed. “This is definitely something you need to tell him about.”

“We’re here,” Nioku said, standing. “We’re at the house.” Nioku pointed and Rio turned to look. The house could be seen through the trees and Rio smiled.

“Thanks for bringing me here,” Rio said, looking back at Nioku who nodded, wiping his face with his own sleeves, sniffling. Rio then walked through the thick grove of trees and underbrush clutching the book triumphantly.

\---

“You found it,” Robert cried out when Rio broke the treeline.

“I sure did,” Rio said, smiling and handing it to Robert. “What’s in it?”

“Everything,” he answered. He opened the book and started flipping through the pages.

“Everything?”

Robert nodded stopping on a page. “I know how to put her down. We need salt and cold iron and jade.”

“We can call Mae and have her bring some salt and jade here, but I don’t know about the cold iron.”

“Here,” Nioku said, pulling out a necklace from beneath his sweater. It was a loop with a series of lunar phases. “This is cold iron.”

“Didn’t Luna give that to you,” Rio asked and Nioku nodded.

“I don’t need it anymore,” he said, confidently. “I need to let her go, let go of the past. I can’t do it with this hanging around my neck.” He pulled the necklace off and handed both it and his phone to Rio. “You call. It’s your idea.” Rio nodded and accepted both items, making the call.


End file.
